THE DIOCESAN FUND.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 29, 15 February 1879, Page 2

THE DIOCESAN FUND.

• A meeting, of the members of the Church of England was held in the Town Hall, Palmerston, pn Wednesday evening, for the purpose of. hearing, a scheme propounded by the Bishop of the diocese for the! purpose of providing a fund to meet the wants and requirements of country parishes. After . the. meeting had. been opened with prayer; Dr. Had field called upon the Rev. Mr. Towgood 'to -read the following circular :r-r " That a general canvass of the Diocese be at once, instituted, with a view to ascertain whether a sufficient fund can be raised for the following purposes : — "To provide adequate stipends for such a body of clergy as is demanded for the spiritual oversight of all the Church people within the Diocese : "To build all requisite churches/parsonages, and schools : " To train young men for the work of the ministry." As a preliminary step to carrying oufrthis resolution, it is thought desirable to put in circulation a brief statement of the reasons which led to its adoption by the Synod. Those~whTr-havß taken any interest in Church matters' will not need to be informed that the population of the Diocese has for some ytfar-Jbeeri rapidlyoutgrowing the provision made for the supply of their spiritual wants.; 'Brit probably; 'few' are 'aware -how great is the. present deficiency, or how fast •the vWork,;to. f he. -accomplished is .striding ahead- of the efforts now.. made, to overtake it. , Very inmcb zeal and liberality has indeed .been already, displayed in the promotion Of Church work, as is shewn by the statisticts of the past yaar. The total of ordi-nary-re venue; derived chiefly from offertories and pew-rents, of the Churches in the Dioeese, for that period, amounted to no less a sum than £4,311 ss. Bd. to which iriust.be added £199 3s. 4d. raised for Sunday Schools; and special revenue raised by special subscriptions, baazars, loaned &c, £3,669 4s. 5d. ; while there was spent on Sunday Schools, £111 4s. Id., on Stipends ofjClergy, £2,726 3s. 9d., and in new buildings, alterations, and repayment of debts, £3,746 I4s. Id. But with all this, there remains, .the fact that, there are not fewer than nine important districts, viz., Poijixua, Foxspn, Palmerston, FeUding, Bulls, and Sandon, Hawepa, Wayerley, Waitotara and •Featherston/ where the services of a resident clergyman i^re urgently demanded, and most of these places/ are. in need of Church or Parsonage, pr.bpth. • The district of Feilding,•wTiich^ as .yet barely three, years- old, has how/asettled' population of over 2000 souls, may.be taken as a fan; example for the way in which work is being thrown upon the Church by the material progress of the country. • Some of these districts enjoy occasional Tisifc from .a clergyman, but most of them, savefor the'Bishopls periodical visitations and the invaluable services, of Lay /Readers,;.: are, quite uncared for.. Besides these/there are many smaller places and parts, of the. diocese remote, from centres of population, that could npt be reached by the employinerit pf one or inpre missionary clergymen. There are moreover, fire or six J of the Vexisting parishes, where, as in the

ua_e of Si. Paul'*, Thorndoh, an assistant curate might with great advantage be «m---ployed. -Altogether is is estimated that, if the Church is to fulfil hor mission at all efiinot leas than twelvg new clergymen would have to be obtained. Even if. ample, mean, fpr there support were available, it is not likely that so many could be at once' proejired.'.-'pphe^diißculty of obtaining- suitable men from England is notorious, and we shall, rip doubt, have to depend in the future, mainly upon ourselves for the supply of our owp wants. We must seek out and educate those of our own young men who may from .time to time-be stirred up to devote themselves td the work ofthe ministry. .It. is not. to he dou'ited that such wil) he found if we can onlv assure them of even a moderate provision for their maintenance. But. how can we expect young men of ability, with to many openings in life before thein, lo come forward in sufficient nmbers ; still more, how win we expect tried men to come to our belp from the old country with the prospect before them, in addition. to all the difficulties and discouragemeat of there work, of a lifelong struggle with the trials and cares of povert v. Yet that this is no imaginary picture ofthe lot of many of our country clergy, is prored by returns laid on tho table of the Synod. With all the help afforded by the Diocesan Fund, so largely increased last year-there were still four clergymen receiving less than £200 a year, whilst only two received more than £300, tlie average, over the. whole Dior cese being,£327. IVo com oent i* needed pn . such a fact. , It will be admitted at -jance that wo.must be prepared to support, pur clergy better before we can reasonably hope to secure and retain the services [ of 'such a body of men as the Diocese absolutely demands. But we must have more . churches and parsoenges as well as more clergy. We ought to be prepared lo build within the next two or three years not less than ten churches and seven pnrconages in the country districts if we would not fall hopelussly into arrears with the work that has.oeen untr usted, to us. Besides these, the effort now being made to build anew chnrch at the Hutt needs a helping hand,. and any general financial scheme for the Diocese ought, in simple justice, to include provision for the interest and ultimate redemption of the the debts which some of tha parishes have incurred in building and enlarging- there churches. (■■ We must also have some provision for the support and training of Theological students. There are at the present time several young men in the Diocese who would gladly. offer themselves to the Bishop as candidates for Holy Orders, and who, it is believed, would ba most eligible for the work of the Ministry, if the opportunity for special study could be afforded them. ' / To accomplish all this would, of course, involve a large outlay of money. The Diocese when fully organized, would require, for the above purposes, something like £20,000 a-year, but probably the half of that sum would enable us to make a very satisfactory begining of a new era of substantial progress. This would allow for the im" mediate building of two churches and two; parsonages where they are most needed, the completion of the Hutt church, interest and sinking fund of present debt, education of three students, introduction of three more clergymen into the ..Diocese, and providing of adequate stipends (ranging from £250 to £400 a-year) for all, the clergy. The undertaking thu3 briefly sketched out is no doubt a very large one, but ;no -true churchman will be disposed to deny that we ought to do our veey utmost to bring it to a suooassful ifjßtio. .The only-.queßtion-ia iu, wnat way r onail We"preserve m ouirprafeßr weak, disorganised efforts, and fail more and more miserable every year .or shall we act upon the principle that union is strength, and. band ourselves tpgetfier from one end of tbe.Dioceseto the other to earry out the work .which is really commou to us all ? If we could only enlist the sympathy and help of all, or even the professed/members.of pur Church, the task would appear *far from hopeless. There is good reason to believe that the Church of this Dioceses contains over 4000 families, or probably fully • 6000 persons whe might, if they would, contribute something towards the proposed fund.* But say 4000 persons could be. induced. to give a small weekly subscription, according to some such scale as .this :— IOOO subscribing 6d. each, 1000 Is., iOOO 2s„ and 1000 4., a week, the grand total, at tho end cf the year would be £19,500/ For pur present needs it would be nearly . sufficient if :we could obtain half, the sum, whether from half the number, of subscribers or for the same number at halffthe above rates. Surely it would imply a great want of faith in the divine mission, in our Church, as well as in sincerity and zeal of bur people to doubt the poissibili-y of success. All that is wanted is that the matter should be fully brought .under the notice of all and that a droperorganitation shonld be set oh foot to eollect their contributions. And here it may be remarked that the scale suggested above is by no meaos entended to exclude eitker larger or smaller sums or to make it necssary that should be paid weekly; though in most case this would be found to be the best way. It should be a leading principle to the fund that aH from the richest to the pooirst should be invited to give according to their means and thus to give a practical testimony to, the fact that they regard themselves|a. members of our Church. If the proposed appeal to the Diocese be made in this spirit, we can-not-doubt that it will be^ibemlly' and hartily responded to and that the success of .our great scheme would soon. he Assured. ; And in conclusion we would asTt: all'trhd 'lore their Church to ponder well' what the .uc-« cess pf thi9 scheme means. " - i - y'y . It me&ns that/there, would immediately, be. a 'large; I ; intrease-in the; nurhber of those" who aae helping onthe wdrk of 'the church, and, from that very fact,' learning to take a deeper interest in. that work and identify themselves with it more thoroughly. ; It means that the. burden, if we must call it a burden, of providing for the expeenses of the chnrch would fall far more equally, and be distributed far more, widely than at present. Under the present «yst em, those who are willing to. give or easily acces-. sible, are in danger of being wearircfc out by the nrmber of appeals, made io them. Under the proposed plan the contributions to the Central Fund would meet every,demand, except for those purely local matters for which the offertories would amply provide, It meam that the clergy would obtain not only a proper maintenance, but that degree of independence which is so. desirable for the faithful discharge of their solemn duties as ministers of Chris*. ' It means that, in the work'of Church extension, we should soon ' be able to,, move paripassu with the progress of the country : that we should be able to plant a Church andj a clergyman in a f neiv, locality without havipg to, wait, for lack of funds, still thp mass of the people, from, force of habit, have grown almost content to be without / the ministrations of a clergyman. It means that our Church would b&able to.develope her true missionary charaoter, »jid extend her ministrations, to every corner pf the Diocese, where there are souls, to: be [jai^d; for and instructed "injthe way of life, ipsjiepid of leaving them to liv.e andj die, as t.oo,mpn.y of them do now_, in a state. wjiieh ipracticajjy little short of 'heathenism, We, commend the. proposed scheme. then most earnestly tOj the. c^sidjararip^ of aU

churchmen in the Diocese, trusting that it wil). meet with there, hearty support, and that the blessinguf Heaven will rest upon it. ' ._ . 77 7/ ,■/'■' '■/ A' A The Bishop then «wkt ha would to make a few remarkd,»brießy supplementing or explaining" some portionsuf til** proper which had just been -rfea'd, whj"h, he ought to" preface by saying,; had been most carefully drawn up by' the- Rev. Mr. Ha- vey, who/in, he regretted ,L_ay, had been;compalled to leuve the-.Cidon^.onViicc6unt.-.9f itt health. Tlwt gentleman had undertaken to found a scheme, arid after mature deliberation had carefully- urawn- up and submitted to the Diocesan Synod the *plan just read, which had received .the sanction and hearty sympathy of that body.' He w>uld begin by saying, that no doubt .the scheme was a large and important »brie, ,which v tp some might appear ambitio'ua 'arid beyond tho possibility of being worked "out.- v It might he said that in.propounding the proposition just, submitted, the Diocesan Synod had departed from its usual caution. .Tq t hat he would reply that the very grandeur of the scheme was the morejlikely to attract the attention of Church members, and to enlist .their sympathy, than a .small /one." Perhaps some wonld say, " Oh, let us goon as we have been, and do the best .we can,? but he could not endorse such a] line of action ; ; nor..did-|he-tlunk-it was the manner in which such an important subject should be treated. For his own part he could hot go on in the same road as they had been travelling, as he would be ashamed to dp '. .so unless he could look forward' tb/sojtrie, scherne' which would enable him to properly fulfill the functions, of his office, by estab: lishingsome practical organisation for supplying religious instruction to. the outlving districts. The members of the. Anglican Church should bear in mind that they were a part of tlie Anglican Church handed dbwn from the time of the Apostles to the present time ; and although properly speaking each diocese was a body in itself, still the' Church of which they were a component part required that all. its members should co-operate' for the genial welfare, -arid, devote their energies towards its support. The plan of organisation which had been snbinitted to them was based Upon such a scheme — a scheme which, after the minutest .scrutiny and deliberation^ had; received.wtbe; most unqualified support and commendation of the , Diocesan Synod. . It/ was not: asked that any member should lay a burden upon his shoulders- beyond his piwer of endurance, 'and Wconsiderding it, it& ; been? thoughtadvisable.that- should the proposed plan be brought fully into operation, all the trie?: , thods, ' pf raising : money for Church wo^k (except the weekly effertories and pew rent s, which should be left at the several: parishes to deal with at they thought fit.) should be given up, arid it might be depended upon that there should be but one appeal during; the course of a year. Furthermore, it was not intended to bring the hew scheme into" operation until the beginning of July,.whenthe pvoinised subscriptions should be claimed, meantime the subscribers; to the Diocesan and other Church fuuds should be called upon as usual., It waVtiot a scheme for extracting more monev f rom Jibs metn-, ber3, but for, putting Church into the position wliiic.ii Jt ought to occupy^ so that its ministers would be able to cairyou^ "tlie drities which devolved upon them.: So far from an additional burden being imposed, it was more than possible that it would' have a contrary effect, arid while it would more equally distribute its. weight, it would. : lessen it upon some who had hitherto borne an undue pioportion. It was, a fact worthy Of note that the whole scheme was originated, arid wS^^^ haps the.ricbest parish in-Wellingtou,'tto whom the necessity for some such step was made apparent while onia visit : through the country. . He . it; was wlio had laid the ground, work of the present scheme, and it should be borne in mind that the figures set down in tlie statement with' regard to the number pf families were not the result' oil guess-work,- but had beepfbased upon statistics .received ifrom/MK r Harvey* who had j received them, frotn -the /Registrar-General. One of the good effects of the new organisation would be- that' jt would inaugurate; a fund for the introduction of competent arid qualified clergymen, the supply of j Whom, he regretted to say, had fallen -Off yejfy"• considerably, $eV had some little ago received a let tfer from Bishop Abrahams, and in it the inalter of ministers' stipends win very plainly alluded to. Clergymen at home who were willing to come to New Zealand were pot so.' much deterred from doing so by the sjnalluess of the remuneration as the fear which appeared to be prevalant that the salaries would not be forthcoming at all. lie (the Bishop) had had some considerable experience; jn Church matters in the Colonies, and .be" was. bound to say that there were ; ;jtojjie .grounds for the apprehension. The system of raising minister's- stipends was by no. means a judicious one, and he had been lately speaking to a clergyman from another diocese who had been led to suppose that his income would be £300 a year, but when/the first six months was up, he was presented with £100. On applying for the other £50, -he was informed that the > member of the congregation who had guaranteed the larger sum had left^and he should rest ■ satisfied with. that. Apart from the other advantages to Jbe derived from the possession of/a central fund, such at the biiildiug uf churches,; parsonages, arid school*, it would be the means- of making? provision for obtaipuig a higher class of oler'gy than . under it hfpresentsystem.. Nothing is more, impprtapt ..the point— and that war why he tppk such a,-, warm interest in the ;moTemen^-T-£hat the status of our should not: bejttjlowed to. fall-to. a low.jStaridard;of education ,;', theyr should be iritelilectually. abla.^tp take their rposition^ af -gentlemen, and-: occupy their true plidfes^in" Vsociety.-. In. conclusion, in: .:«skirig-' *heiS warm sympathy and cordial support he by no -means wished that any would inflict' themselves a burden whiehthey /were unable to bear. . He did not wish them to' act in the matter ; hastily, but calmly look into their financial-questions and see' what they,corild a^ord to give; and then^'contriv bute willingly to the good cause. There wss.notbing.compidsoryabpufcit ; they were in a land where there was.no State Church nor no tithes, still as member*af the Church of England they had certain, obligations to the ministers and progress of that religion, and they were only asked to conscientiously bestow wh:it they could afford. No one need bo prevented; contributing "g'erierously accprding to their means from" any motives of ,f*tee delicacy, as it was a matter totally ' diffeipnj; from private.charity. '7 ■ The, iters. Messrs. Tudob and Towopon both spoke at great length in faoror of the scheme. •.-.'• Mr. SNBMON said thafc- since. hfiaringjthe com prehensiye . address . of . t he . Bishop, > a new light had been throw^n, upon, the subject,; which opened a new, happy, and pros-' perouß era for country section, or the Ohui;cli j as he fejji sure, after hearipgSthe elaborate statement that no one need) enter' tain a fear for the. r^ult. Hitherto, hejise*. gretted to say, a ' xery great amount..; of • apathy had, been evijjcedjn Chunch matters, whiph no chjubt the" sphere would dissipajte, and;i,fc was pleasing tp, thjnk that the City Churches hid held out, thf| hand; of assistance t,o the. weaker ones, lp the. country; He therefore haJ^muchpl^su^innjpvingrr-. ,f ._jjiat, this meeting cVrdiftJly. approves of.thg, respiutipn o& the S^n^% fa^pr,. c£

establish ing -a. 'general "Ch-iPch _ fund, and binds itself to help it; in- evefiyiwaTi" Mr. MiTFOBD begged to s.'oonathe resolution. ...j- .»/.', -' ; far. WATXBB's*iid.he : - £usTe#:t.Ti«t, being a st ranger, he would be pardoiftil for making a View remnrk-^iii. support 6f ihe resolution. : He was not limg.from-Efigk*n_F,»and ht feltcompelled to'say that ori/hls; arrival in' New Zealand he was perfectly «io_fhded at tha perfect destitution; of pastoral "aupervisioo with snjuch5 njuch r pleasuYe' ]txf the* scffeme-'propounded by the'Bishopf -W'd ni feit'^njfe" sure it had r need : orily^to'* be'placed?_W_W^ eaoh congregation, to §e adopted without- hesitaiton. Mr.V iIiTPOBDc rosevto\gropose another ..resolution which he feltV wanton adjunct ol the first.. They had resSlvetUo accept tha r plan laid before them, buttth^y. should go a step farther arid make a movft/toward carrying' that resolve into ,en*ee,6.4 He would, therefore, move—" That 'ifie/d-uirch vestry of this parislvbe* requested ts' carry out th* scheme as speedily as possible':'The motion was brieflyjieconded by Mr. Se.iton. . •■■; l-.^j-^ - Mr. SnbesoN said he trusted the Bishop would not imagine from. the^paucity of attendance that the; iriemt*er_ccJ_f the Church Jn Palmerston were not alive to. the advantages'/to be derived frbm"&& scheme, or ?were -not preparediW'ar^epP^ie'responsibility placed upon them.' /The' fact waa th!it.;PiilineiMton'\rtßfn6tedfor4he poor attendance at -its meetings, nevertheless they were never behind. in carryhtgfbut any ob- • ject which was ■de'siMbh'.//V/-' -^ 'Tlie Bishop Vinttmat-d^nhit- ihe could thoroughly believe v the Btete'__ewt' of Mr. Snelson, as there were always'fc/riumber of people in a com munitry"wh*d»,%j_fe , prepared to let their representative -meri>il-t for then* in. some matter.; and-althougtethe meeting was. not. large, he toofc'it thaMt was comprised iu a great measure of- wpresentativa men, and thahked v t hem for the cordial support and assistari^ce^r6inis__li?' : j The meeting'theri* cbhtlude-t 9 *